


Heirs of Darkness

by anesor



Series: Star Wars Snippets [18]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hope, Post-Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-11
Updated: 2019-12-11
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:41:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21756199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anesor/pseuds/anesor
Summary: The end of the empire can provoke grieving, too, now that losses are final.
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano, Luke Skywalker & Darth Vader, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano
Series: Star Wars Snippets [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/930086
Comments: 4
Kudos: 66
Collections: Shadows of the Saber (NaNo 2019 Star Wars short fiction collection)





	Heirs of Darkness

The celebration rippled out from many worlds, from Imperial strongholds to scattered Rebel support, shocking many who had lost hope and perspective. Many barely remembered the relatively peaceful days before First Geonosis. Materials and supplies for celebration seemed too frivolous when there might be pockets of Imperial holdouts, those who seized Imperial abuses with gusto and would never willingly give them up.

She was afraid, she could say that even if old voices always commented, afraid that Moffs or Acolytes would go to ground for another cycle of destruction in a year, a generation, or century.

But the Light had escaped the trap and flowed again.

Ashla had gradually taken a more strategic role after the Ghost and Malachor events. She would never stop fighting a Sith empire, but she was so much more disillusioned after the destruction of her delusions. Learning what had happened to the Jedi, the man who’d saved her and let her go free broke something. It took months until she could face other Rebels without new surges of grief.

New mysteries in the Force could not erase that pain, even if she refused to embrace it.

The Force called her from her listening post too late to help with the second Death Star, she made her excuses to go to Endor even as the celebrations kept spreading. She’d heard Rex was helping, but she hadn’t gotten any kind of message through her contacts yet.

Only wan impressions from the Force.

The Force was turbulent.

She had no impression either way who was winning.

The Force shouted the end of the Emperor.

It mourned another shortly after.

The Light flowed again, not as vibrant as when thousands held the wrong lines in the sand. But softer lights were still bright contrast to the darker pockmarks.

Her ship was almost too quiet as she meditated on her lost Master. She knew he had passed, and she was almost relieved that she did not have to face him again.

Now she would never learn what made a good and kind man into that monster.

She would never ask her Grandmaster either. She had hoped through her busiest days as Fulcrum to find him too. Like her Master, there had never been an announcement of his death, and she hoped he had escaped to some remote and quiet world to teach. She had been so disappointed he hadn’t spoken more for her, but time and wrangling Rebel committees had taught her how little one person could affect a group decision.

After Yavin, she learned that he had sacrificed himself so Organa the Younger and her crew could escape.

That made her laugh until she cried. That was the man in his purest essence. He had not changed.

Master Obi-Wan just didn’t have anyone to watch his back or save his ass when he did stuff like that. _He_ was the one who did it, in both meanings. Anakin had saved him and later killed him.

It took longer to learn the names of those Master saved, not just the Alderanean princess, but a smuggler and a boy named Skywalker.

The boy was the right age to explain the Senator’s brief seclusion before her death. He saved a Skywalker one last time.

Ashla knew she _should_ have tracked him down, find out the truth of her guess or if he was ‘just’ some cousin or named in a Hero’s honor. A hotshot pilot made a relative likely, but…

The holo she found of the kid in the orange jumpsuit and later getting a medal just… was too painful to look at.

A live pilot would be far worse, so she made no real effort to meet him as he got famous as a Rebel pilot and Padawan without a Master. He’d gotten prominent, commanding a squadron and missions for the Rebels and General Organa… and even facing Vader and surviving, if not unscathed.

But she was afraid now.

Afraid of seeing those sky blue eyes and cheerful confidence again, not able to separate the monster from the Rebel.

Ashla could believe, as long as she could compartmentalize the monster away.

But with the Sith dead, maybe she could finally mourn the brother and teacher who had Fallen so far.

At Endor maybe she could learn what happened.

* * *

Debris from the second Death Star made for an ever expanding cloud, destined to travel forever until gravity caught it. Smaller pieces would be burn up in the atmosphere of the primary, larger would make big craters. Others would be gathered by salvage vessels looking for scrap or souvenirs.

Rebel ships, many battle damaged, had landed in open areas and Ashla nipped in to land. The celebrations seem to have ended here, as cleanup and future plans held most thoughts.

She wandered, greeting Rebels she knew and spotting surviving Generals like Organa and Ackbar.

At the edge of the trees she saw the remains of a pyre set well apart from all others.

Her throat hurt when she identified the burnt and warped black helmet.

_It was true, he was finally dead._

Had he finally joined the Force like her friends from the creche, Master Plo, Master Obi-Wan? Or was he in a trap of his own making in the Sith Hells?

Was she being a petty child to wish for the latter?

Ashla believed in balance, but what could possibly balance all that pain and destruction?

Mopping her eyes she sat down to meditate. Now she knew he was dead, at peace and free of whatever pain or fear that had to remake him.

But Ashla could not find peace enough to wish him the same peace her friends would have found. There, justice was not found. And she wept again for the friends she had lost in the Order and the Vod.

She wept for the Master who outlived her respect.

And she wept for herself.

* * *

When she became aware of the quiet clearing again, she heard an argument and them steps came into the clearing. Another settled to the ground and into meditation.

Their presence in the Force was… very high. But bubbling like a stream of earnest good cheer and tired determination. Ashla opened her eyes and was unsurprised to see the Rebel pilot in a dark uniform without tunic or obi, carrying a lightsaber.

His smile was amused and not as cocky as pilots usually were. “Hello. Did you know the deceased?”

“Once long ago. When I was young and foolish and the galaxy was new and full of possibilities. Then I learned better.”

The blond young man looked at the ashes of the pyre. “It is always full of possibilities if only we can see beyond our own view.”

Ashla glared at the young man. “Now you sound like an old man.”

“Hazard of the lessons I learned. I’m Luke Skywalker.”

“Ashla.” At his look of interest, she added, “Ashla Tano.”

His eyes lost focus in a long remembered tic. “Was your family gifted?”

“The _Empire_ took my family.”

Apology flitted across his face. “I’m sorry. I lost mine as well.”

_Everyone had, sooner or later._

“I heard you got the shields down.”

Luke’s eyes showed surprise in a guilelessness that felt too familiar. “Yes, I regret it took so long. Leia thought the shields were not operational...”

A pang of guilt ripped through Ashla, as that intel was crucial.

“… And the previous owner wanted to keep it.” Luke smirked.

Suddenly, this Padawan aged boy was a mystery.

“Not Vader?” she whispered.

“No. I don’t think he thought much about the station. He went on and on about power and benefits of his teaching- not the station.”

Ashla took a breath. “So you faced the Vader and the Emperor?”

“It wasn’t fun.” Luke’s eyes darkened but he became quiet. Then he forced a smile. “It was shocking for a boy from Tatooine.

That made Ashla wince. “I never heard reports that Vader used lightning...”

Luke swallowed. “He didn’t. No. He… didn’t.”

She just had to know. “Was he… are you any relation to General Skywalker, from the Clone Wars?”

He lit up. “Yes. Ben told me he was a great pilot and a good friend.”

“Ben?” She could not remember a Vod named Ben or a Jedi.

“Sorry,” Luke shrugged. “Ben told me about him years ago before I found out he was General Obi-Wan Kenobi. I thought he was just crazy old Ben living out in the Wastes who showed up at the strangest times.”

“You know where Master Obi-Wan was all those years? I thought he’d been long dead until I heard about Yavin.”

“In the desert.” Luke looked up as if he heard something. “Neither of them really matched the Clone Wars records of the Order I’ve found since then.”

“Of them?” These surprises kept catching Ashla off guard.

Luke’s smile was sad. “Master Kenobi and Master Yoda. Ben told me enough to find Master Yoda in the swamps to study after Yavin.”

She had thought the elder Master had passed into the Force as well. That he had lived with only one more student made her sad. Ashla looked off into the trees and began to wonder if she _really_ was the last who had lived and studied in the Temple before it became a Sith prize.

Before her Master gave it to the Emperor.

She took deep breaths, centering herself sending away grief and bitterness like an Initiate. Now she was free again to choose any path, the Emperor dead. Vader… was at peace now, wherever his soul went.

“Ahsoka, Anakin turned away from the Dark in the end.” Luke’s voice and presence were warm and comforting.

Then she realized the name he used and turned to look at him again.

“He rejected the power and died saving me from the Emperor. His suit took too much lightning damage, that’s why he died.”

Ashoka blinked at Luke, her eyes cooling from the wetness.

“He joined the Force, like Ben and Yoda before him. They aren’t truly gone.” Luke nodded his head off to the side where the light was dimmer.

Ahsoka sobbed, seeing three smiling and healthy robed figures, and hearing the faintest of ‘Snips’ on the breeze.

**Author's Note:**

> If Disney hasn’t already, I’m sure details will become non-canon any day now. But really Luke and Ahsoka really are Vaderkin’s heirs, even if he really didn’t know what he should do with them. Ahsoka ended up pretty isolated as the last one standing.
> 
> \---  
> Star Wars is the property of George Lucas and Disney. No infringement is intended and no profit is made from this fanfiction.


End file.
